Despite the Vietnamese government calling for the domestic industry to increase exports, the chairman of the Vietnam Building Association has called for local producers to cooperate in a fair pricing environment to prevent further losses.
Last year producers were reported to have incurred a loss of US$80m as volumes were sold at below floor prices to undercut each other, said Mr Huynh, chairman of the association. According to him, local firms sold their products at US$40-45/t, incurring losses of between US$8-10/t.
Mr Huynh asked local cement producers to cooperate instead of undercutting each other to keep export prices at not lower than domestic one in order to ensure enterprises and the state’s benefit, Vietnam News Brief Service reports.
He also suggested the Vietnam Cement Association set reasonable export prices as well as help firms penetrate large markets.
To ensure the balance between the cement supply and demand, earlier this week the government cancelled nine proposed cement projects, extend the deadline for the construction of seven other projects to after 2015 and called on Vietnam Cement Association and Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation (Vicem) to facilitate cement exports.
